Most important sail trim controls

[Don Guillette]

I had an interesting telephone conversation with a ship mate today. Actually it was a gal skipper and a Hunter owner. She asked me to give her the MOST important sail trim controls for the main and jib.

My first question was why do you want to know that? She said "because I want to concentrate and practice with those controls". I thought that was a pretty good idea.

I was going to tell her that all the sail trim controls for the main and jib were important but I stiffled that response.

My answer for the jib was simple - it is the FAIRLEADS. Can anyone tell me WHY I picked that jib sail trim control? Maybe you think another jib sail trim control is more important. If you do please tell me (us) which one it is and WHY.

The mainsail was not that easy. I batched the most important mainsail contols into a GROUP - #1 mainsheet, #2 traveler, #3 boom vang and #4 outhaul. Can you tell me WHY I picked those sail trim controls and WHY I picked that order? Maybe you think they should be in a different order or maybe you think only one is the most important. If you do please tell me (us) what your thoughts are.

The Hunter gal knows the answers but she'll let you give it a shot first.

 

[sailingdog]

I'll give it a shot...

The jib fairleads are the most important jib control since the fairleads do the most to control the shape of the jib and how much twist the jib has. Move them aft and the twist increases and the bottom of the sail flattens out. Move them forward, and the leech closes and the foot bellies out more giving you a bit more power in light air.

Mainsheet controls the shape of the leech of the sail sailing close on the wind, and the position of the sail when sailing off the wind. The traveler controls the angle of attack of the main while leaving the sail shape control to the main sheet when sailing close hauled. The boom vang controls how open or closed the leech of the main is when sailing off the wind—and can be used to help de-power the main in heavier winds. The outhaul controls how flat the lower portion of the sail is and can be used to power up the sail in light winds by easing it, and de-power the main in heavier winds by tensioning it more.

Unfortunately, the traveler on my boat sucks...it is a pin-stop traveler and not really usable in heavy winds. Looking to upgrade it next season to a line controlled traveller.

 

[Don Guillette]

Sailingdog: Not bad mate - your reading my mind!! Lets see what some of the other listers come up with?

Guys, jump in here or I'll turn my friend the gal Hunter skipper/owner lose on you!!

Buzzards Bay - as a lad growing up in Rhode Island I spent many a day sailing and racing in your area. I used to go fishing with my uncle on Cape Cod Canal. He was a great fisherman and would tell me he could hear the fish coming to take the bait. I listened all the time but never heard them coming. Maybe he was just pulling my leg.

Sailingdog - when you decide to invest in a traveler take a look at the Garhauer Marine Traveler. they are located across the country from you in Upland, Ca (LA area). Their products are sold on this website and sailboatowners.com can help you with Garhauer product selection for your boat

 

[sailingdog]

Don-

I actually spoke with both Harken and Garhauer at the Annapolis boat show a couple of weeks. I had tried to work with Schaefer previously, since the track and hardware that is OEM is theirs, but they were less than helpful.

 

[Stillraining]

Fairleads .. ...when you move them forward they are less apt to trip you and spill your beverage..when they are farther back it keeps the crew all farther back on the boat due to that fact ...and this is a real plus if their really cute...hence there namesake... the fairer the crew the further aft you lead them ....run them all the way forward if there not and you want them out of the cock pit.

Main sheet... Keep it amid ship if everyone knows what there doing or is getting along with one another...loosen it up to knock some sense into some of them if not...the farther you let it out the more memorable the lesson will become...and the less often you will have to do it

Traveler...depending on what side of the boat the babes are hanging out on your view will improve if you move the traveler to the opposite side..conversly if you get an ugly crew that day you can shield your view of them this works in conjuntion with running the fairleads all the way forward...they work as a team

Boom Vang...Sometimes the sheet is not long enough to really Knock sense into someone so this enables you to cut the sheet loose and really lower the boom on em.

Out hall...this is connected to the tender to pull you out of your slip.. we are still looking for the in hall on our boat and are pretty sure some idiot tied a big hunk of iron to it on the front...we will cut that loose next time out.

I am self taught so take this for what its worth...as all the books seem to be screwed up on the matter.

 

[sailingdog]

Still-

That explains a lot about how you sail your boat.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Glad to see

YOU'RE back, Don.

 

[Don Guillette]

Sailingdog: If you decide to purchase a Garhauer product be sure to ask for Mark or Guido only. Mark is one of the owners son and Guido is the product designer. Tell them Don Guillette told you to call.

You will be extremely hard pressed to find a better product than what Garhauer sells - you could pay a lot more $$ for the same product elsewhere.

I sold and installed their products when I lived in So Ca and I never had a problem or a charge back due to a faulty product. I used to "test drive" some of their products. In other words, they would come up with a new design and I'd install it on my boat and put it through its paces. After they perfected whatever it was I got the first one off the line. A great example is their snatch blocks - you can open and close them with one hand. I think sailboatowners.com carries them. If they don't, they should.

 

[sailingdog]

Thanks for that tip Don... I believe it was Mark I spoke with at the show.

 

[Don Guillette]

Jib Sail Trim Controls

The most important jib sail trim control is the fairleads and here's why. There are 4 things sail trim controls are controlling and they are draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack. Do you know how many of the 4 elemts are controlled by the fairleads? ALL OF THEM and that is why the fairleads are the most important jib sail trim control.

Do you know how many sailors use the fairleads to adjust the jib - probably about 50%. The rest just set them and forget them. If you have a masthead rig and you don't use the fairleads to adjust your jib your boat will never perform to top efficency. For one specific point of sail and wind condition you'll be right on and wrong for all others, like the broken clock.

Next message will deal with the most important sail trim controls for the mainsail.

 

[sailingdog]

And that's why I upgraded the genoa cars to this Garhauer-based line-controlled setup this past spring:

Adjusting pin-stop cars is a RPITA when singlehanding the boat.

The most important jib sail trim control is the fairleads and here's why. There are 4 things sail trim controls are controlling and they are draft depth, draft position, twist and angle of attack. Do you know how many of the 4 elemts are controlled by the fairleads? ALL OF THEM and that is why the fairleads are the most important jib sail trim control.

Do you know how many sailors use the fairleads to adjust the jib - probably about 50%. The rest just set them and forget them. If you have a masthead rig and you don't use the fairleads to adjust your jib your boat will never perform to top efficency. For one specific point of sail and wind condition you'll be right on and wrong for all others, like the broken clock.

Next message will deal with the most important sail trim controls for the mainsail.

 

[Don Guillette]

Mod to Garhauer Fairlead System

Sailingdog; I made a modification to the Garhauer adjsutable fairlead system that you may be interested in.

To anyone reading this thread, the adjustable fairlead system works similar to a traveler. In other words, the car slides up and back on a track.

The problem I found with the system or any of them on the market is they set themselves. When the jib comes over or the wind changes, if the fairlead car was not locked in place it would try to find some spot on the track that it is happy with. With a jamb cleat it can't move but lets assume for a minute that it could. Again, it would seek some spot on the track.

Through experimentation on my C30 with a 155 (which I did not like and sold) and a 135 I found that the spot the fairlead car wanted to camp was not correct. It was more forward than I wanted it to be. Unfortunately, and unlike a traveler, there is no way to move the car aft.

To solve this problem I installed a small block on the aft stationary track stop and another one on the fairlead car. With a short piece of line I was able to move the car to whatever position I wanted on the track.

 

[sailingdog]

Thanks Don... there are beckets on both the genoa fairlead car and the cam cleat mount that would work for that. I'll probably do that this winter.